April 13, 2010

“Sticky” layer styles in Photoshop CS5

We used to hear complaints about the default settings in Photoshop’s various layer effects, especially about strokes always starting out red. In CS4 we changed the stroke default to black, but that was just a stopgap measure that didn’t address the fundamental problem: No matter what we might pick, people want effects to start with whatever values they happen to prefer.

For CS5 we thought about making layer styles sticky. That is, after you applied an effect with a particular set of values (e.g. Drop Shadow at 50% opacity), the next time you applied that effect, the dialog would start out using the last-used values. Sometimes that behavior works well, but just as often it can be confusing and annoying.

We therefore opted to add a pair of buttons (see screenshot) to each effect–one to establish the default values you prefer (“Make Default”), and one to restore the “factory settings” for the effect (“Reset to Default”). The wording of the latter isn’t quite as clear as I’d like, but hopefully it’ll make sense to people.

Video: In depth on Photoshop CS5’s new brush engine

Photoshop CS5 is far and away the biggest step forward in the app’s brushing & natural media features in the last eight years (since PS7 introduced a new brush engine). In this episode of The Complete Picture, Julieanne Kost shows off new painting features including the new Natural Media Bristle Tip Brushes.

Photoshop CS5 Ask-A-Pro live this Thursday

My colleagues Julieanne Kost and Bryan O’Neil Hughes will be holding a live Q&A via Twitter this Thursday at noon Pacific (time zone info). Borrowing from the Facebook page:

Now that Photoshop CS5 has officially been revealed, the Twitterverse is brimming with questions. Now is your chance to have your Photoshop CS5 questions answered LIVE on Twitter by Bryan O’Neil Hughes, Photoshop product manager, and Julieanne Kost, Adobe digital imaging evangelist.

Simply follow Photoshop on Twitter, and on Thursday, April 15, from noon to 1 p.m. PDT, tweet your questions to @Photoshop. Be sure to include the #AskAPro hashtag so we can answer your questions.